


make it easier on yourself (and don't ask why)

by hito



Category: Graceland (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-31
Updated: 2013-07-31
Packaged: 2017-12-22 01:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/907094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hito/pseuds/hito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"O.J., baby," Briggs says, holding out a peremptory hand. </p>
<p>Written for the <a href="http://graceland-kink.dreamwidth.org/1555.html?thread=64275#cmt64275">meme</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	make it easier on yourself (and don't ask why)

"O.J., baby," Briggs says, holding out a peremptory hand. 

The bottom of the carton says 'DJ' in thick black lettering, and Mike had been about to replace it in the refrigerator, so he's engrossed in a cost-benefit analysis, trying to decide whose wrath he can best endure, and Lauren's amused snort when he hands the contraband over takes him by surprise. 

"What?" he asks, turning to look after her as she brushes past on her way out of the room. "What can Jakes do to me?" 

"Not the question I'd be asking," she says, " _baby_." 

"Oh," Mike objects, "Oh, hey, come on," but she's up the stairs and away, laughter lingering. "What was that about?" he asks Briggs, but Briggs is swallowing deeply from the carton, shaking his head in amusement, and when he's done he just says, "Lauren, man, who knows?" and reaches past Mike for the door of the refrigerator. 

"Don't put that back," Mike says, horror allowing him to do a passable job of ignoring the prickle of uncomfortable desire raised by Briggs' proximity. "I don't actually want to find out what Jakes' worst is." 

"Not nearly as bad as mine, baby," Briggs says, eyes crinkling as he grins at Mike. 

"Seriously, what's that about?" Mike asks again. "Why do you keep calling me baby?" 

He isn't actually sure why the question seems to take Briggs by surprise, pulling a flicker of genuine emotion across his face, sweeping the controlled pleasantness of his expression out with the tide for just long enough to allow Mike to see the truth. 

Maybe the informal affection is so commonplace around the house that he had never expected to be asked for an explanation, or maybe he just hadn't expected it from Mike. Maybe it was nothing more than getting caught up in the simple pleasure of the moment in a place in which he was accustomed to letting his guard down. 

It doesn't really matter why Mike saw that fleeting honesty on Briggs' face, just that he did. 

"Because you're the baby, kid," Briggs says, dumping the carton in the trash as he moves towards the door. "You should be thankful I'm not calling you worse." 

"Yeah, no," Mike says, snagging Briggs' elbow and holding tightly enough that Briggs can't pull away without making more of this than he means to. "That isn't it." 

It takes a second for Briggs to swing around to face him, but when he does, his face is a bland mask. 

"What do you think it is?" he asks baldly, corners of his mouth curving upwards even as he frowns quizzically. 

And Mike isn't quite sure how to answer that, because it isn't flirting, not quite, not when Briggs hadn't ever intended it to be recognized as such.   
But it could be flirting, could be something more very easily if he wants it to, if he wants to-- 

"I think it's exactly what it sounds like," he says, speaking decisively though his mouth is dry, though he hasn't decided anything, not really, because he isn't sure what the right choice here would be, whether moving on this information won't just make everything that much worse, won't pull him in so deep he won't be able to get out clean. 

But he's already acknowledged this; he's the one who raised the possibility by asking the question at all, and if he forces all Briggs' doors wide open and then walks away he doubts he'll ever get invited back inside. 

He just doesn't know how he would handle it, himself or Briggs or any of it, not when it's someone he lives and works with, not when it's his superior officer, the man he's investigating, someone he won't be able to escape for as long as any of this lasts. But if he can't handle it, this _won't_ last, _he_ won't last. His heart pounds urgently, drowning out everything else, sound and scent, everything but the rushing in his ears and the bite of his teeth into his lip and the impenetrable darkness of Briggs' eyes as he stares at Mike. He needs--

Briggs' face tightens and his body tenses to turn away, and Mike leans forward, reaches up and kisses Briggs like it's the thing he wants most in the universe. It might turn out that way, in the end. 

"Hey--" Briggs starts, but Mike pulls him back down, going back in for more of Briggs' mouth, more of that warmth and softness. It's easy to lose himself in this, in the simmering heat that rises quickly when Briggs pulls him closer with a hand on his lower back, puts strong fingers on the curve of his jaw so that he can tilt Mike's head up, so that the kiss gets deeper. 

It's too easy to let necessity twist into passion when this is so close to what Mike wants in so many different ways. He opens his mouth wider and pushes up, lets everything get higher and harder, lets Briggs' mouth turn punishing on his own and shoves his hands under Briggs' henley to stroke fingers gently over his skin, let nails scrape lightly until Briggs shivers. 

There's a bang from Lauren's room above, and Mike knows he should pull away, but he lets Briggs be the one to do it. Briggs' eyes are wide and black, lips redder than Mike has ever seen them, and Mike knows he should anyway, but when he leans in and licks over Briggs' mouth it's only because he wants to. 

"We should, uh," Briggs says, eyes trailing down Mike's body like a hand, "follow up on this later. You can find a location more suited to this kind of op, right?" 

His face is almost back to normal, set in an approximation of his usual amused cynicism, though Mike only ever sees that expression directed at himself, probably because he is, in fact, the baby, and the only one who has yet to develop his own version of it. 

"Yeah," Mike says, and lets his eyes do the talking for him. 

"You've got a meet, right?" Briggs asks. He sounds reluctant, though Johnny had told him Briggs is heading out himself. "You can catch me after." 

"Or I can catch you now," Mike says, wondering how he's going to explain his late arrival to Badillo, and whether he will explain this at all. He certainly won't attempt to explain how he feels about any of it; he hardly knows himself. "And we can review progress later." 

Briggs throws his head back as he laughs. Mike watches the stretch of his throat, watches the joy fade from his expression as his gaze returns to Mike. 

"And maybe I can stick with you this afternoon," Mike offers impulsively. "I can cancel my thing." 

"Sure," Briggs agrees easily, "if you're happy to sniff at my heels like that." 

Mike swallows that without reacting; it's true enough. 

"C'mon, baby," Briggs says, flashing him a devilish grin as he takes Mike's hand and tugs him towards the stairs. 

Mike closes his eyes briefly in the last moment of doubt he will allow himself, opens them wide, and follows.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] make it easier on yourself (and don't ask why)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1343296) by [hito](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hito/pseuds/hito), [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins)




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